Josh White, also known as ‘So Be Fire’, wrote the track “We Will March” in the lead up to the largest student demonstration in over 20 years. The track accompanied a video created by QMTV at Queen Mary Students’ Union to promote the march on November 10th 2010. This may be his first ‘official’ protest song, but political elements were already beginning to surface in his solo work.
When did you first begin writing your own music?
I started as soon as I started playing the guitar, I think – around 13 or 14. I wrote my first song with a friend aged 14 (it was rubbish) and I still have some of those early songs in my set.
What inspired you to start writing music?
I suppose I’m one of the last of a generation of people writing music before social media, or at least when it was in its infancy. Myspace (and the like) helped young bands an enormous amount in the early/middle 2000s, but I already had the songwriting bug before then and that sort of DIY-led exposure just made it even more exciting (especially when you are young and have no money for professional studios). I didn’t have the strong musical upbringing that a lot of musicians have – that music education is still coming. I’m hopelessly in love with bands like The Ramones precisely because I’m coming to them so late. My initial inspiration was probably just that I could play the guitar and create music if I wanted to. It was a pretty self-perpetuating idea that became more fun the more I learned to play. I definitely didn’t consciously decide to start writing music. It was pretty organic, I think.
Do you think that in the era of social media that it’s harder or easier for musicians to get their message across?
It’s really hard to say. While it has definitely revolutionised the way a lot of people discover new music, it has also become a little saturated. The way musicians create and sell their music now is the result of a much wider set of reasons, like the low(ish) cost of recording gear, the renaissance of live music, and so on. Social media has had an enormous impact, but I’m not convinced bands find it any easier to get their music to people. If anything, because of the sheer amount of music it means bands maybe have to be more original (or good-looking) to attract fans, which may or may not actually make the general quality of music better. At the very least, you have to be doing something interesting – and social media hasn’t changed that at all.
Would you categorise any of your songs as a form of protest music?
Yes, I suppose so. The song for the QMTV video (‘We WIll March’) is the most overtly political song I have, though I definitely bring protest and politics into other songs. It’s important that music has political elements, if only as a means of expression for the musician writing it.
How did you get involved with the video for QMTV? Did you write the song before the video was created?
Sam Creighton (VP Media and Communications at QMSU) asked me to write something for a video about the cuts and I had a couple of song ideas I was working on that just fit really well with the folk-punk, anthemic vibe we were looking for. In fact, Sam and Caz Parra (also of QMedia) wrote the lyrics with me in about two hours, in a mangy, damp room and they actually came out pretty well!
Has your time at University had any major influence on your song writing?
Yes, definitely. Musically, Queen Mary is a dead space. There is no scene, no live music and everyone who likes alternative music tends to head into town. There are some really talented people here, but there’s no culture of music. As such, it pretty much solidified me as a solo artist (it’s hard enough finding anyone who can play an instrument, let alone likes the same music enough to jam or start bands with) and since then I’ve always worked my music within the parameters of a vocal and an acoustic guitar. Lyrically, I studied Law for two years before moving to History and that completely changed the way I think and write about everything and my music has been much more political since then. Law students really are ghastly…
What are your views on the prospective cuts and the rise in tuition fees? What do you feel students can/should do next?
Who the hell knows? It feels like more than an argument over cuts – like it’s a generational issue, like the youth are finally waking up after thirty years of inactivity. Whether it will just affect the future of the Left or youth politics, nobody knows. Whether it actually is a crisis of generational conflict isn’t clear either. We still aren’t out of that ahistorical, post-war tradition of thinking everything is soon going to turn to shit. It could be nothing. But it certainly feels different. The fees: £9000 is a ludicrous amount to pay for education, but it might not actually dissuade young people. The wider problems are that our society (not just the government, the media are culpable too, as are a lot of inordinately stupid members of the electorate) seems to be saying that arts and humanities subjects have no value over and unless they give a direct economic contribution to the country. That famous Thatcher episode of saying Ancient Norse was a ‘luxury’ is a view that many people share, and it’s utterly wrong. That we should seek to enrich ourselves as individuals and as a society through cultural awareness is one of the most profound things we can ever hope to do. To say it is a ‘luxury’ unless it has an immediate professional, cash value that leads to a career is short-sighted, offensive and historically bankrupt. In times of austerity, the public don’t like to see the government backing degrees in Fine Art or French Poetry, but they are as important as Finance, Law or Engineering. The problem for students is that less than 2% went on the National Demo in November. As much as the wider public don’t care, we still haven’t convinced our own that it’s a fight worth turning up for. That’s why we’ll lose.
Were you involved with/did you attend any of the protests?
I attended the first, the National Demo in November with all the madness at Millbank (though I wasn’t in that part of the march). I have no intention of attending any more. Protesting in that way is worthless. It doesn’t gain support for students from the electorate who, in times like these, have their own problems. It doesn’t, short of massive numbers, persuade the Coalition to change their minds. And worst, with a violent minority hijacking peaceful demos, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel for the press who can tarnish all students with the brush that has labelled our generation – the ASBO generation – as the feckless, undeserving inheritors of this country. The argument needs to be won elsewhere and the violence is just making us all look like idiots.
Do you think there is/should be an upsurge in protest music/art given the ‘current economic climate’?
I think there will be, but protest music has always existed in times of affluence too. There may be a deeper sense of injustice felt by more people and this may mean protest songs have more resonance. But music can definitely inspire people to change their minds and we should all hope it continues to do so.
Hayley Clarke Media 